As of today....

Brooklynn had her 4 month appt this week. She weighed in at exactly 12 pounds. She took her shots well, I think Alexis was more worried about them then she was :) Here is her smiling face.


And her very favorite sister.

Party Time!

We've lived in our new area about 6 months now, and have both been thinking we'd like to get to know more people in our ward, so Matt said 'Let's have a party'. Our good friend Lonna let us know that if we wanted to have a party, we needed to have a theme. So off went Matt to google 'adult party themes', and after sifting through all the inappropriate ones he came up with a 'blank canvas' party. The idea is to have several different canvases, each with a theme (finger painting, impressionism, abstract, etc) and have people fill in a little bit on each painting.

We invited just about everyone in our age group, hoping for at least half to show up. We ended up having a great showing, with about 30 people working on the paintings! I was way impressed with how the paintings turned out, especially since Matt and I lack art skills of any kind. We played some games to award the winners with their choice of canvas (or caramel apple). It was a really good time and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I really wish I had taken more pictures, but I was a little distracted with painting myself :) The Walburger's took some extra pictures and posted on their blog. So for all you party throwers out there, I highly suggest this idea for a unique and fun party!

San Antonio

For Thanksgiving weekend we headed off to San Antonio to see what that great city had to offer and check out Sea World. Friday morning I woke at 4am for a Brooklynn feeding, and then headed out to check out some Black Friday deals. I managed to score this mini-DVD player for Lexi.


She looks grateful right? Well at very least she was entertained.

We headed downtown to the River Walk, a very cool place. This is the perfect picture of our daughter, she just can't seem to stay still long enough to take a picture! I think she was flying like a monkey, or possibly dancing like a princess...

The Alamo (and me holding Lexi tight to get her picture taken).


Those two people on each end were at Sea World with their kid, but couldn't convince her to ride. The adults didn't back out though, and Lexi jumped on solo. Nothing scares her!


The Shamu roller coaster, way too much fun.

The Shamu show, Brooklynn preferred her Dad's smiling face


Da-dum, Shamu the whale. By far the best show and almost (emphasis on the almost) worth the $56.95 per person to get into Sea World.

Feeding the dolphins. This was a very cool thing to do as well. We bought some little fish and the dolphins just swim right up and take them out of your hands, amazing!




Matt's reckless behavior...

Now that's a tired Dad hanging out with a rather wakeful Brooklynn later that night.

It was our first family excursion in a hotel, and I think it's safe to say I wont be voluntarily staying in a hotel with young kids for many more years. It was lots of fun though, and distracted me from missing all the fun going on in St. George!

Life at the Hall house

Life continues on schedule at the Hall house. Here are some pictures of what we've been up to.



Brooklynn is having more and more awake time, it's been fun! We went to dinner at Chili's and she hung out with Dad, drooling over his food.


We met the Barlow family the week we moved into our new ward, they have since become our best Austin friends. Lonna, the kids, and I headed down to Zilker park to ride the Zilker Zepher, it was a great time.

Lexi and Gwen trying out these seats...the train doubled as a jungle gym before we finally set off.


After the Zilker Zepher we ate lunch at a place called P.Terry's, yummy burger joint. They had a sand pit for the kids to amuse themselves with.


In case you don't know me, I should just confess right now that I hate most home improvement projects. They are messy, expensive, and time consuming. I think perhaps I just don't have the imagination to focus on the finished product. Matt doesn't shy away from them though. Ever since we moved in, he has been itching to paint and redo the kitchen, among other things. He decided to paint the bathroom on Saturday, and Lexi helped out! It was fun for them, and I hid in the other room. And it looks awesome, as Matt always promises it will :)


One of our favorite things to do in Salt Lake was go to the Hogle Zoo, and even though the Waco Zoo is over an hour away, we still got a membership and plan on hitting it up regularly. This is Lexi's impersonation of a tiger giving herself a bath.


And here is her flamingo, this picture totally cracks me up.


Riding the komodo dragon.


Brooklynn taking a load off. This is her gorgeous quilt that Grammi made for her, as well as the darling little dress Aunt Tamara sent. Her family keeps her looking cute as can be!

In other news I want to give a big shout out to my sister Amanda who got engaged this week to Kyler. Congrats you two! I can't wait for the big day. And also to Lisa & Adam (Matt's bro and his wife), who welcomed Rebecca Marie to their family on Saturday. She is just as cute as she can be, and I know our girls are gonna love being cousins! That's baby #3 of an expected 4 this year for the Hall boys. Both of our families keep stretching and we're loving each and every one of the new additions.

Fall Events

Another Halloween has come and gone, these holidays just keep getting better as Lexi gets more and more involved in them. This year we carved pumpkins, went to the ward Halloween party, the library Halloween party, a Methodist fall festival, and a Boofest. Then we topped it all off with Trick-or-Treating Halloween night. Here are some pictures from some of the events.



Brooklynn wore her flower costume, and Lexi was Tinkerbell. I bet some of you may remember Lexi in that same flower outfit :)


At the Boofest, they had some crafts where the kids could make wooden bird houses.

Matt ended up doing most of the bird house, he was very proud :)
Getting ready for the Ward Halloween party.
Picking out a pumpkin...this one is just her size.




At the library party with friends Gwen and Harrison-they were Hansel and Gretl, and they fit the part perfectly.


Riding the pony at the Fall Festival.


I took Lexi trick-or-treating with our neighbor. This is Lexi's friend Anooshka, they both just happened to be Tinkerbell's this year. It was a big year for ferry's.

All in all I think we got sufficient use out of the Tinkerbell outfit. It was a great holiday, Lexi is already looking forward to next year :)

Crazy

My cousin Shara just posted this picture on her facebook. She is sitting on the swing and I'm behind her. I don't think my mom was into taking pictures when I was this age cause I don't have any of myself, but it is amazing for me to see this and realize how much Lexi looks like me at that age! I even pointed to the picture and asked Lexi who it was and she said 'It's Lexi'.

Top Ten

The top then things I love about my girls (in no particular order):

10. Alexis still takes a nap most days, and will take a wonderful quiet time even if she doesn't want to sleep.
9. Brooklynn loves to stare at light fixtures, or fans, or just about anything on the ceiling.
8. Alexis loves her sister, yesterday she told me she was her best friend.
7. Brooklynn LOVES to take a bath, she'll float around at ease for 10 mins+
6. Alexis has a great imagination, she often runs down the street with a dinosaur or spider on her tail.
5. Brooklynn is starting to make the greatest noises, I think her first word will be 'hi' by the 'hu hu' kind of noise she makes-Matt is of course holding out for 'dada'.
4. Alexis has the most amazing memory, she knows just about all the words in most of the books she owns. Sometimes she reads them to me!
3. When Brooklynn smiles, she gets into it with her whole body, she does a funny winking thing and squirms her arms and legs.
2. Alexis loves to sing in the car, she'll sing LOUD and quiet, and knows nearly all the words to her Disney CD's.
1. These two girls give my life joy, and frustration, energy and sleepiness, smiles and frowns, and are my life's work. I love them both!!

JoMama & JoPapa hit Texas!

My Mom and Dad came into town this weekend and we had a great time! My mom took lots of great pictures.

Here is Brooklynn, enjoying her favorite seat.

We went to Zilker Park again, Lexi and Dad ran down the trail and waited at the benches until the rest of us could catch up.

The Texas history museum has an IMAX theater, and we went to see Where the Wild Things Are (can I just say that is NOT a children's movie).

The big Texas star!

Lexi waiting for the movie to start. JoMama got her the book and Max the day before so she was very excited.

Lexi spent a great deal of the weekend positioned here on JoPapa's shoulders.

Riding the train.

We went to Inner Space Cave, it was about an hour tour 50 ft under ground, very cool!

There is a population of baby bats down there. Kinda creepy.
Brooklynn enjoyed the tour in the sling.

JoMama told Lexi story after story.

Brooklynn & I.
More shots from her favorite spot.

Watching some movies.

In the evenings we played cards, made caramel apples, and Matt and I even got out for a date. It was so much fun to have some extra hands to hold Brooklynn and Lexi could not get enough of JoPapa. It was a great time had by all. We hope to see them again very soon!